


The Seventh Time's the Charm

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Starting Over [27]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Family, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-10
Updated: 2012-09-10
Packaged: 2017-11-14 00:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s a great shirt but I don’t want to miss an opportunity to be one of those obnoxious matching couples.  C'mon Hotchner, I know you don’t want to miss that.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Seventh Time's the Charm

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really excited for Season 8 for many reasons but one of the top ones is to see the progression of this relationship.

“Let’s see _The Avengers_ again Dad!” Jack jumped up and down. “I wanna see The Hulk!”

“Jack, the movie comes out on DVD next month. I doubt there's a theater around here still playing it.” Hotch said.

“Can we try to find one? Please?” Jack put his hands together like he was praying. “I wanna see The Hulk.”

“Well it looks as if you and Beth are both dressed for the occasion.” 

Hotch smiled and his dimples were in full view. Jack wore his Incredible Hulk tee shirt with a pair of khaki shorts and blue and white shell-toed Adidas. Beth had on dark rinse cropped jeans, black low top Chucks, and a Hawkeye tee shirt. He tried not to be so jealous of the crush she had on the superhero. He was a superhero after all; it was to be expected.

“I'm sure we can find someplace still playing it.” Beth stood from the couch. “Is your laptop on?”

“Always.” Hotch nodded. He watched Beth go over to the dining room table and sit down in front of the computer. Jack rushed over to stand next to her. “It’s a rainy day so going to a movie might be fun. If _The Avengers_ isn’t playing then maybe we can see something else. Is there anything else you want to see, Jack?”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “I wanna see _The Avengers_. I wanna see The Hulk.”

“And you're OK that this is the fifth time you're going to see it?” his father asked.

“You’ve seen the movie five times Jack?” Beth looked at him.

“I've seen it six times. I saw it twice with Aunt Penelope and Kevin, once with Uncle Derek, once with Aunt JJ and Uncle Will, once with Agent Emily and Ambassador Steve, and once with my dad. We have to see it together Beth.”

“I would definitely love to see it together, bud. I've only seen it three times.”

“I've seen it once, which is usually the amount of times you see something in the movies.” Hotch said.

“Don’t be silly.” Beth waved away his words. “You see all the best movies multiple times. You relive the experiences; pick up the things you missed the first time…”

“Or the second, third, or fourth time.”

“See, you do get what I'm saying.”

“I guess.” Hotch suppressed his laughter.

“Dad’s making fun of us Jack.” Beth said. “I think you should go over there and tickle him until he bursts.”

“He's not ticklish.” Jack said in a matter of fact tone nearly rivaling his father’s. “Superheroes are never ticklish. You have to find another way to get to them. Do you know how to get to him, Beth?”

“Oh yeah Jack,” she smiled as she caressed Jack’s cheek and looked at Hotch. “I know some of his weak spots.”

“No plotting against Dad you two.”

“I found it.” Beth said.

“Can we go, Dad? Can we go, can we go?”

“Where is it playing, sweetheart?” he asked Beth as he walked over to them at the dining room table. He put his hands on her shoulders, massaging gently. Beth’s happy sigh created butterflies in his stomach.

“It’s at the Cineplex 14 in the Palisades.” She replied. “The next show is starting at 2:30 so we can definitely make it there. Afterwards we can go to lunch…or early dinner.”

“We can go right, Dad?” Jack asked.

“We can go.” Hotch nodded. He could rarely turn down his son’s big brown eyes. Jack knew that as well and used his powers mostly for good.

“Yay!”

“You should probably change your shirt.” Beth said.

“This is a good shirt.” Hotch put his hand on the Fordham University tee. “It’s not even wrinkled.”

“It’s a great shirt but I don’t want to miss an opportunity to be one of those obnoxious matching couples. C'mon Hotchner, I know you don’t want to miss that.”

“I don’t want to miss that.” he shook his head. “I'm going to change my shirt.”

He left the room and Jack looked at Beth.

“I wanna have pretzel bites instead of popcorn.” He said. “Is that OK?”

“That’s fine, Jack. Pretzel bites are my favorite too…I also have a soft spot for nachos.”

“Where's your soft spot?” he asked.

“It’s just a saying.” Beth laughed. “I don’t actually have a soft spot.”

“Why do you say it if it doesn’t mean anything?”

“It means something. It’s another way of saying that I like them. I like pretzel bites and nachos. Are you excited about seeing _The Avengers_ again?”

“Yeah.” Jack smiled. “I like when the Hulk smashes stuff. And Captain America is awesome. My friend Percy from school likes Thor.”

“Hawkeye is my favorite. That’s why I'm wearing the tee shirt.”

“Everyone knows that Coulson is the coolest.” Hotch came back into the living room. He wore a Coulson Lives tee shirt. “He doesn’t have super powers but risks his life to save the world anyway. That’s the true definition of a hero.”

“You just have a soft spot for him because he's in the FBI.” Beth smiled. She stood up from the chair, going over to the couch to grab her bag.

“That means you like him, Dad.”

“It’s the black suit, isn’t it Aaron? I can admit that the suit is definitely a turn on.”

“C'mere, smarty pants.”

Hotch took hold of her and kissed her mouth. Beth smiled, wrapping her arms tighter around his neck.

“Say I love you!” Jack exclaimed.

“What?” Beth stopped kissing Hotch and turned to look at the little boy.

“If you kiss a lot and say I love you then you guys can get married. Everybody knows that.” 

“Where did you hear that, Jack?”

“At school.” he replied. “Percy told me and then Kyle did. Percy got a new mom but she's not as pretty or nice as you, Beth.”

Beth smiled and turned back to Hotch. She mouthed I love you but didn’t say it aloud. It made Hotch smile. He kissed her once more, hugging her close.

“Jack, get your windbreaker buddy so we can get going. We don’t want to miss anything.”

“OK. Be right back.”

His voice carried all the way with him as he ran back to his bedroom. Hotch just laughed, his arm still around Beth.

“He's talking about marriage a lot.” he whispered.

“He's seven,” she said. “It’s not completely unexpected. It’s not going to scare me away or freak me out.”

“I have to admit that it’s having slightly the opposite effect on me. Should we get together and come up with some stock answers for his million questions?” he asked.

“I doubt that’s possible. And it’s surely no fun. It’s going to be fine Aaron; we’re going to be fine.” Beth kissed him. “I promise.”

“Lets go.” Jack was running down the hall and heading straight for the door.

Hotch grabbed his car keys, he and Beth behind Jack. He knew his little boy was excited. He didn’t think any movie had caught Jack like this since _Star Wars_. He loved _Star Wars_. He loved Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. 

While he knew Darth Vader was a bad guy he still loved him too. When Jack was excited about something, it was contagious. He wanted to talk about it in the animated way that only little kids could. He would make up adventures and go over and over his favorite scenes. He wanted all the fun toys and to reenact the awesome parts. 

Hotch loved that Beth dived right into the adventure with him. She would laugh and agree and add more commentary that would just excite them both. He sometimes had things to add but usually just let them run with it. He really wanted this. Yes, the marriage questions scared him but that was normal. Beth and Jack being friends, growing to love each other, was always going to make him happy.

“Right Dad?” Jack asked.

“What was that, Jack?”

“Can we go to Pizza Pete’s afterwards? It’s near the movie theater. We can eat pizza and play basketball. They even have the Pokemon games and skeeball.”

“Ooh, I love skeeball.” Beth said.

“See Dad, Beth loves skeeball.”

“I heard that. We’ll see about it after the movie. It’s going to be an adventurous day all around, I promise.”

“Yay!” Jack threw his arms up in the backseat.

“Yay!” Beth threw her arms up in the front seat.

As soon as Hotch got to a stop light, he threw his arms up as well. “Yay!”

***


End file.
